#that can really demystify some insane art

[space-blue]

As both an artist and a writer, I have no idea why I react so differently to works recognisably better than my own.

I'm not the jealous type, and in general I'm more confident in my writing than my art, even if I've had art classes since I was a kid and studied it at school, vs. writing being an 8yo hobby.

When I read someone who is clearly a superior storyteller, I get very excited. I pay more attention to the way they construct sentences, develop characters, etc. I can get so pumped that I'll drop the story and go work on my own, like it gave me a boost.

Art is the opposite. Seeing pieces that are significantly superior, it's a toss of the coin whether I'll just adore it, gawk, save it, move on... Or start feeling down on myself.

Again it's not jealousy, and this post is not an appeal for compliments. I've been practicing loads recently and I'm seeing the improvement in my art even just over the last couple of months.

I just have this tendency to *see* in vivid detail all the ways the Gorgeous Art does things I guess I think I should be able to do/wish I were already able to do/wonder if I'll ever be able to do...

And it's a downer. It's almost never motivational. I'll analyse one such piece, try to learn from it. Draw a flat, shitty pancake of a face doodle, tell myself I'm wasting my fucking time and I should stick to fic, and not draw for a day (I come back eventually).

I refuse to let that sort of feeling affect my attitude outside that though, and always make a point of sharing/saving/commenting/etc. on such pieces anyway. They're often the ones I respect the most.

Art that's gorgeous but not my style or taste never gives me that feelings.

So I guess it's envy and self pity in the end, even if dilluted.

But why do I not get it in writing or 3D?

Maybe it's got something to do with how much keener my eye is for art? Trained, educated to see, but not trained enough to do? Maybe it's because I was raised amid toxic ideas of innate ability and failed next to 'truly dedicated' students who were completely consumed by their art? Is it some personal unresolved hangups?

Maybe it's because I feel I've mastered the basics of writing, or at least there is no mystery to the craft. Reading, practicing, exercises of style, ad vitam aeternam. While art can remain baffling. How is this piece so good? Even if the artist explained I wouldn't know HOW to make it. My hand would fail my eye. Too many moving parts in my mind's eye (I need the perspective, the anatomy, the dynamic lines, the colour theory, the painting experience, the satisfactory brushes, the confidence to pull a decent piece from a rough sketch...)

Whilst writing now is only a matter of growing from sound foundations.

Art feels like the foundations are never done being set.

I have no idea. I wish I knew, so I could enjoy art and drawing the same way I do reading and writing.

#art #writing #drawing #musings #snips talks #ruminations #honestly one of my fav things is process videos #that can really demystify some insane art #like 'oh ok they spent 1million years on it and smoothed this all with a tiny brush and tons of colourpicking' #'they're insane and a master' can be just as soothing as a process that teaches me practical new things #and better habits

[beesmygod]

today is webcomics day. i am bea and i make "A Ghost Story" - part 1: pre-gaming

webcomic day is a yearly celebration of the art form concocted by the screentones podcast team as a way for people to see how the sausage gets made. my webcomic "a ghost story" has been running for over 10 years, and yet i still don't think i can say i am good at making a webcomic. regardless, the comic is getting made because otherwise i become very, very sick in the head. today i would like to share with you the process of making a page of "A Ghost Story" from start to finish. either this demystifies the process or will make you think im so cool and strong for doing this 2x a week. instead of reblogging this one post until it gets very long, i will be posting individual updates that i will then compile and post on my personal website. block the tags now if you HATE comics and want them to EXPLODE.

if you have any questions, even things like "what the fuck are you even talking about" feel free to ask. i want to feel confident in what i make again and i think sometimes interrogation from an outside source is really

---

that said, let's get started. wait just kidding i want a cup of coffee first, hold on.

ok now im ready. i have a big glass of water. i have coffee. i have a headset for the parts of work that don't involve typing words. i can't type words and listen to some streamer babble in my ear at the same time, so it has to be instrumental music or nothing. i just took my meds so they should kick in after about 30 mins. i woke up late today, which is weird and annoying. but maybe i can work late instead.

first off, i need to know where i'm going beyond this one page. if i dont know where im going with something, then i usually create something that sucks that i have to deal with later. hold on my internet died, i have to reset the router. ok, anyway.

what's rattling around in my brain is that not only do i have to deal with maxine's current predicament, i am also dealing with multiple plot elements i need to wrap back around to from the previous chapter. luckily, im about to put maxine down for a nap, which means i can get back to those other elements:

i need to finish the exposition from the three ankou characters for this story arc establishing their motivations as the oppositional force in the story. the "villain" is not these three specifically, but their boss. they need to have a loose understanding of what's going on in order to communicate this to the audience. god this started turning into a huge ass paragraph so i'll just keep it short there.

we've jumped back to before jack's horrible day from the first chapter of this storyline so we have to make our way back toward that and then lapping it, which means wrapping up his various open threads like:

feeding victoria and learning something new about her

finding out alice is a very exceptional employee who is getting many awards

watching valdo call lily while interrupting her during something personal to ask her for help with maxine's situation.

jack meeting with valdo and lily the day after they first met so jack can just tell them straight up that lily has 4 sisters she doesnt know about.

help that girl with her poltergeist problem. remember that. i've had jokes for this rattling in my head for like 4 years. im going insane.

and also the fucking tilberi!!! that has a point its going somewhere!!! there's a larger menace here!!!

other things to set up the climax of this storyline. sexual tensions, hints at larger emotional problems not immediately evident to the reader

lots of moving parts. and i feel like im moving in slow motion to get to them. i can see them all weaving together in my head, its the process of putting that onto paper that's proving difficult.

ok that took an hour starting and stopping. -_- let me write the next part as i keep brainstorming on how to approach this page. taking a "rubber duck" approach to this might help. heres an image from the last page i worked on (i have a 5 page buffer rn so the site does not match the finished pages) to get us semi-situated.

also because images will help people understand what skill level we're working with here. i need to be able to communicate an idea to the audience; if the art also looks good on top of that, then that's just an added bonus. but the ability to communicate my ideas is sometimes hampered by my lack of artistic skill or comics language ineptitude. like those speech bubbles kind of fucking suck but at a certain point you have to just hit print on what you're working on in order to keep your already glacial pace.

webcomics is a tightrope act where you're also spinning 4 plates at once. the trick is to keep the audience from realizing how many actually fall or how wobbly they all are. the act sucks but technically its not a failure.

#a ghost story #webcomics #webcomic #webcomic day

[umusicians]

UM Interview: Ni/Co

Ni/Co is a music group composed of Dani Brillhart and Colton Jones. After relocating to Nashville from their hometowns, the duo combined their early influences to shape their unique and fresh sound as a band. Ni/Co has created + written with producers in Nashville, London + Los Angeles. After working their way through the southeast with both acoustic and full band shows, they have gained an insatiable passion to perform.

Amandah Opoku sat down with Ni/Co to talk about their new single “Legend”, a show they’d love to create the soundtrack for and more!

Amandah Opoku: Ni/Co, thank you for doing this interview today! Before we kick off please tell our readers about yourself and one random fact people do not know about you Ni/Co: We’re Ni/Co a band consisting of Dani Brillhart and Colton Jones. We were originally in Nashville and we’re now based in LA. Most people don't know that we have a lifelong goal of being sponsored by Chipotle as we feel like we solely keep them in business some weeks.

AO: Dani and Colton how did you guys meet, and why did you decide to ultimately create Ni/Co? Ni/Co: We met in Nashville! We got into a room to co-write and instantly clicked. It wasn't until we performed live for the first time as a band that we knew we had to pursue this further and see where it could take us!

Amandah Opoku: Your band name “Ni/Co”, is shortened versions of your name. Why did you settle on that name for yourselves? Ni/Co: We went through A TON of crazy names before we ended up with Ni/Co. We wanted to make sure our name felt like 100% both of us. We kept trying to cycle through strange words and descriptors and then realized we were just trying way too hard haha!

AO: Dani you danced and sang for some of the most prominent industry professionals. What did you take away from your experience and how has it influenced you as you pursue this path in music? Dani: I was definitely one of those kids that wanted to be great at everything I did. The first time I was a part of a children's choir, I vividly remembering being like, "Oh. Wait. I don't ever want to be in a world where music isn't." I also was able to learn the ins and outs of a studio from a young age which was SO incredible for our careers today and taught me my insane LOVE for creating.

AO: Colton, you were featured on NBC’s The Sing Off. What did you take away from your experience and how has it influenced you as you pursue this path in music?  Colton: Being on the show at such a young age was a blessing because it showed me of all the career paths that exist in the entertainment industry. In a sense it helped demystify it as a whole which ultimately gave me the courage to  pursue it as a career.

AO: What is one important piece of advice you received on your journey as you pursue a career in music?  Ni/Co: We think it’s so important to know in music that you have to keep grinding and never let the lows discourage you. We've felt some of the biggest hits since starting our music journey, but we've also seen that when we push through those moments, some of the best art comes out.

Amandah Opoku: I’ve been on your Instagram and see that you’ve done a number of covers. What’s one song you’ve covered that you wish you were the original artists of? Ni/Co: This question is so hard! We actually released a collection of said covers into an EP titled "Songs We Wish We Wrote" so lots of them! We both actually adore "Bleeding Love" which happens to be our very first cover on our YouTube channel. From the songwriting to the production to the performance by Leona Lewis - all of it inspires us. Additionally, we recently love “To Be Young” by Anne Marie and Doja Cat. We feel like it really nails on the head how we feel right now. We also LOVE “You Broke Me First” by Tate McRae!!

AO: You released your new single “Legend” on August 28th. What was the writing and recording process like for the track? Ni/Co: This was actually a non-conventional one! We write a lot of for film/TV music and this one was originally geared mostly towards that, but we felt we could really see our followers and listeners needing to hear a confidence boosting anthem in times like this! So recording it was all about just having fun and getting weird with the message.

AO: What inspired the story behind “Legend”?  Ni/Co: When Dani wrote the song she was really just trying to feel like a badass. It was actually her birthday and she wanted to make a fun song that made her feel confident - Something that doesn’t take itself too seriously. It was really awesome to get the news that 'LA’s Finest' wanted to use the song as well because that show is all about uplifting boss women!

Amandah Opoku: “Legend” is currently being used to promote Season 2 of Spectrum's 'LA's Finest'. If you could create a soundtrack for any show or movie, what show would you choose and why? Ni/Co: We were obsessed with How to Get Away with Murder. We think the music in that show was SO cool and dynamic. We would have loved to be a part of that just because we were so invested and knew the characters and plot so well! It could go from deep dark cinematic feels to indie bouncy music and we love all of the in betweens!

Also during quarantine, we fell DEEP into Vampire Diaries! We both became emotionally invested in the characters and felt like they were our friends lol. We heard a rumor that a Season 9 is coming out. We would freak out if one of our songs was in that show!

AO: To date, what have been some of the challenges you’ve faced as you pursue a career in music?   Ni/Co: One of the biggest challenges is finding a balance. Being an independent artist you have to book all your own shows, build relationships, book sessions, create your own content, write great songs, and try and create opportunities constantly. It can be super overwhelming knowing what to prioritize and to be on top of everything. Oh and also remember to enjoy life and breathe at the same time! Ultimately we just want to bring music to peoples' lives and hopefully joy comes with that.

Amandah Opoku: For new fans who come across your music, what would you like them to take away from your music? Ni/Co: One of the biggest driving forces behind why we do music is to bring people together. We want people to hear our music and feel a little bit of themselves in it. And in turn we hope it helps them see that they are more similar to other people than they may have thought. Whether it’s an emotional song that lets them know other people experience those same feelings, or an upbeat driving song ( like Legend) that makes people just want to move and dance with their friends, we want unity. One of our favorite things at concerts is the dismantling of beliefs, associations, etc and every single person dancing to the same song and feeling along with it.

Amandah Opoku: With “Legend” out now, what can fans expect from you next? Ni/Co: We are planning to keep releasing music whether it be originals or covers via our YouTube and Instagram page! 

Amandah Opoku: In the next 5 years, what do you hope to achieve? Ni/Co: We hope to be able to tour the world and bring people together all over the planet through songs! We have such a fire to perform and build a whole production around our music, so we plan to do so as soon as we are able to!!

Connect with Ni/Co on the following websites: https://nicomusicofficial.com/ https://www.instagram.com/ni.co_official/ https://twitter.com/ni_co_official https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcleioHuL0TP47LU1BrVR6A

#Interviews #Amandah Opoku #Ni/Co

[theburnedhand]

I remember the first moment I walked into a class known as “hot yoga”.  Yes, it was hotter than hell or so I imagined.  The class was heated to around 102 degrees with about 40% humidity.  I managed to last, but honestly wondered how many people passed out, threw up or went to the bathroom and never came back.

I pondered all of those things in the space of 5 minutes.  The people were all slim, seriously.  There was a mirror on the wall in front of me and I wondered why, whyyyy, would they do that to people wearing next to nothing.  And to top it off, a man walked in wearing what seriously was the smallest erm covering ever and put his mat in front of me (More on that later if you want to click the link).

Here’s the thing.  I was brand new and it wasn’t about any of these things, but if this was my first experience, I had nothing else to compare it to.  So, for those of you who are either nodding your heads, or wondering what happened next, I will help clear some things up.

This particular studio caters to the college students.  I didn’t realize that when I signed up as it was close to me and I wanted to see what all the “fuss” was about.  The people were very serious in this class and very much unforgiving that particular day.  It is not like this everywhere and just to be clear, it is not like this in every class there.  The phrase that I later discovered “your vibe attracts your tribe” is also true for yoga studios. 

Since I was a beginner, I didn’t know what I didn’t know.  I tried it again years later at this studio and found that it still seemed not quite the right fit for me personally.  I wanted to connect with my body and my breath and I personally couldn’t do that while staring at a mirror.  It was way too distracting in this class.

I didn’t want the mirror to be my focus and I found the students body language as well as the instructors seemed to imply that if I didn’t do the pose a certain way, that I was less than somehow and the mirror was just confirmation.

The next place I tried offered Restorative Yoga.  Well, the few times I went I really enjoyed it…until I took a friend who couldn’t sit still at all, but that’s another story that I linked here.  You have to understand that I was mentally and physically in pain at the time, but I had come to the conclusion that it absolutely couldn’t get any worse (which was actually half right) and that to do nothing was insane (which was 100% correct).  So, the art of restoring my body back to the original factory settings appealed to me highly. 

We got to use bolsters, which are like pillows, blankets, blocks, straps and pretty much anything we had available to us at the time.  I felt very good about the process.  After a while of finding my place in this class, I finally decided to take what would become my greatest passion.

The Vinyasa “flow” Class.  What fresh hell was this my body whispered?  Why are we doing this?  My wrists said to me.  My brain said “Aww F-this.  No.  Noooo.”  But I sat on the mat with no mirror in front of me and listened as the teacher centered us.  I began to move and thought that if I needed a rest surely yoga was the place to find it, right?  Well, again.  Not all classes are created the same and they shouldn’t be.  So, in this flow, it was exactly that.  We literally flowed from pose to pose to pose, and I felt like we never stopped.

Again, my body was in the greatest pain it had ever been in at this time anyway, so I felt as if I had nothing to lose and everything to gain…if I could last.  It was literally like being on Survivor I thought.  I had to pace my thoughts so that I could make it 60 minutes.  Could I do this?

The first few weeks, were hard.  Down Dog was not my favorite.  I actually secretly despised it.  Planking.  WHY was that ever created in the first place when you could plop down on the damn mat.  Why did I want to actually hold myself up?  Why?  Anyway, all this moaning was only in my head.  At least for the most part.  I might have told my husband I wasn’t cut out for it.

Then the day happened when my wrists didn’t hurt quite as much, and in a moment of weakness I said yes to signing up for Yoga Teacher Training.  So, the truth is, I get it.  I really do.

I am not slim…I am curvy, but prefer not to put that label on my style of teaching as that’s just ridiculous.  I want to teach yoga that is truly available to every body.  Every size, shape, color or anything else you think is holding you back.  Are you in pain?  I understand.  Do you think you are too big busted?  I got you covered with modifications and ways to move those girls out-of-the-way.  Don’t want to wear yoga pants?  Fine, then wear what makes you happy…and ermm covered.

After 200 hours, and days I almost cried from the pain, I graduated from my yoga teacher training.  I couldn’t hold myself up at first.  Seriously, and had to modify by coming to my knees in down dog, one of the most used poses there seemed to be ever.  I had such poor wrists that I couldn’t side plank.  And I tried for a year to hold myself up in a pose called crow.  I want you to believe me when I say “trust the process”.  I additionally became certified in teaching yoga for arthritis and pain.  I am now a mindful coach who specializes in getting through this minute to the next, and the next and the next and learning to let go of the things that are holding you back.

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I would love to be able to help you with getting control of your thoughts, practicing visualization techniques, and creating affirmations that can help you move ahead with your life.

Available to you here >> Head|Heart|Health Club <<

Demystifying Yoga and Why You Need to Try it. I remember the first moment I walked into a class known as “hot yoga”.  Yes, it was hotter than hell or so I imagined. 

#align yourself #always keep fighting #arthritis #beginning yoga #changing life #dealing with life #dealing with moods #finding balance #healing #healthy lifestyle #pain management #personal #perspective #restorative yoga #stress management #yoga breathing #yoga thoughts

[nous-mag-blog]

Mental Illness in Films

5 films to tune you in for NOUS 8 - The Play Issue. Curated and written by Courtney Button Edited by George Odysseos www.whiskeyinhand.com

Mental health is still one of the most under represented and misunderstood aspects of human wellbeing. The film industry has rarely been one to give even handed representations of mental illness, which has often acted as a shorthand for murderous psychopath. However, sometimes the movies get it right and, with the stigma of mental illness slowly being eradicated, there is now a plethora of films that tackle the subject with sensitivity and realism. Art is uniquely positioned in its ability to effectively convey the feelings and effects of mental ill health to people who wouldn’t otherwise have had that experience. Likewise, the medium of film acts as an effective distributor of this empathic thinking through its presence in mass media and access to large audiences. It is through art and film that the stigma of mental ill health can be broken down and the fog and fear around mental illness demystified. Here are five films that look at mental health from refreshing viewpoints.

Frank (2014)

Based very loosely on the life of Timperley legend Chris Sievey, known to most as Frank Sidebottom, Frank is a very funny but touching film that addresses some of the little talked about truths of mental illness. Jon, a wanna-be musician, ends up becoming the keyboard player for the band The Soronprfbs, whose lead singer and songwriter, Frank, constantly wears a giant papier-mâché head. Frank is a unique individual who see things in a different way to other people. He has a positive outlook on life and makes up songs about things like a pulled thread on a blanket. He is happy with who he is, and creates what some might call a rather esoteric brand of music, but it is music that he likes. Jon, meanwhile, uses the internet to gain popularity for the Soronprfbs. The pressure from Jon and expectant fans pushes Frank out of his comfort zone and out of control. The film shows the effects that pressure and expectation can have on the mental well-being of people. It also, despite Frank’s over the top head, takes a very real look at mental health and mental illness. When Jon finds Frank at his home and meets his parents Jon expects stories of an unstable childhood, of abuse or trauma, something to explain Frank’s behaviour. He doesn’t find it. Frank had a perfectly happy and healthy childhood. As Frank’s father reveals, ‘Nothing happened to him. He’s got a mental illness.’ Frank’s mental health isn’t the results of something that’s happened to him. It’s just who he is. It makes him highly creative and unique from other people.

I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok (2006) Korean director Park Chan-wook is best known for his work on the excellent revenge thriller Oldboy. I’m a Cyborg, But That’s Ok is a completely different work. Cha Young-goon, a young woman working in a factory, is taken to a mental institution after she plugs herself into a power socket. She wasn’t an attempt at suicide, but rather trying to recharge her batteries as she believes she is a cyborg. There she meets Park Il-sun, a young man who is a kleptomaniac and who is often seen wearing a cardboard mask and scuttling like a crab. I’m a Cyborg is an offbeat romcom, kind of like When Harry Met Sally if Sally wore her grandmother’s false teeth and talked to strip lights and Harry had an itchy bum cheek whenever he played ping pong. The film has a heightened sense of reality, sometimes moving into fantasy, much like Amelie. More importantly, the film shows two people coming together and trying to help and make each other happy, not by trying to fix each other’s mental health, but by helping them cope with how they are. They find each other in this unusual situation and, rather than being scared or put off by mental illness, they are brought together by it. They want the other person to be happy and are willing to become part of their world to do so. Though there are of course doctors present in the institution there is never any talk of curing the patients of their mental illness, they are being helped in their efforts to live with their illness.

Harvey (1950)

Elwood P. Dowd is friendly, kind, caring, handsome and charming. He has time and kind words for everybody and a sunny outlook on life. He also happens to have an invisible friend who is a six foot three inch (we must be precise about these things) white rabbit named Harvey. This one fact causes him to be an embarrassment to his family and a pariah to the well-to-do members of the community.  They find his hallucination, if it is indeed such a thing, to be frightening and a cause for alarm despite the fact that Elwood wouldn’t even think of ever harming anyone. Harvey confronts the viewer not with the negativity of mental illness, but the reactionary behaviour of those who experience it from the outside. Elwood’s family only see the damage that it does to their standing in society and their prospects for marriage and friends. They even attempt to commit Elwood to an insane asylum. This ends up showing the deficiencies of the mental health system of the time (the film was made in the 1950’s) as Elwood’s sister is institutionalised as her upset at her brother’s condition is misdiagnosed as her own mental illness. Watching Harvey you never feel scared of Elwood or what he might do; rather, you worry what might happen to him as people attempt to tackle his mental health. The film asks you to confront your own perceptions of mental illness. This perfectly lovely man’s only crime is that he sees a giant invisible rabbit. Is that so wrong?

Inside Out (2015)

Pixar have always been at the head of the pack when it comes to animated movies with a wealth of intelligent, entertaining and funny films produced from their studio. Inside Out is one of their very best. Situated mainly inside the mind of a young girl called Riley, the characters of the film are the five core emotions that control Riley’s mind. Riley is hit with a life-changing experience when her family moves to a different city and she is faced with having to start a life in a place she doesn’t know far away from her friends. This causes a significant change in her character and becomes a formative experience. Pixar have always undertaken a lot of research when creating their films and if you’ve seen their Toy Story series you will know that they can handle emotional change better than anyone else. This time they spent months talking to psychologists and scientists to break down the mental changes that happen to children as they hit puberty. Inside Out looks at emotions and a person’s mental makeup in an intelligent way while making complete sense of a very complicated process. It is also tremendous fun, managing to include high brow quips about abstract thought and a recurring joke about an ear worm toothpaste ad jingle. The film has multiple layers and includes some interesting hidden easter eggs that you won’t see first time, such as references to Riley’s father’s anger problem and hints at Riley’s own sexuality.

It’s Such Beautiful Day (2012)

The Second animation on this list is from Don Hertzfeldt, the creator of the weird animation short Rejected. Bill, the main character, struggles with his fracturing psyche and failing mental health. The film takes us through Bill’s experiences with his life being narrated by Hertzfeldt. Hertzfeldt’s hand drawn animations and 2-D stick-figure characters offer a style that is almost the polar opposite of the rich computer animation used by Pixar, but Hertzfeldt makes it no less compelling or interesting. his animations are surreal but this adds to the fractured and confused nature of Bill’s mind. Hertzfeldt plays around with the frame of the film to illustrate what it is like for Bill in his world. Bill’s world mostly exists in a small circle which is surrounded by black. When Bill’s mental state fractures, such as when he is given new medication, the border to Bill’s world becomes animated, burning with fire or shattered by rapidly moving lines as Bill’s small circle shifts around the screen. Hertzfeldt really brings you in to Bill’s mental experience, also bringing in sound to reflect what it going on in Bill’s head. During one sequence the narrative voice splits into multiple layers that soon become unintelligible as you are bombarded by thoughts and noise. The title of the film is very relevant as Hertzfeldt manages to find beautiful moments in the mundanity of everyday life and through the chaos that is Bill’s mental illness. He also manages to find a lot of humour. It’s Such a Beautiful Day is a little seen, but wonderful film that is funny, touching and heartbreaking. For a 2-D hand drawn animation it contains a lot of humanity and heart. It addresses mental health much better than most live action films.